Teacher takes a career break and goes on a solo year long mission (maybe more) to see the world.

Month: October 2016

I’ve already been here over a month and as usual I’ve managed to jam pack my time. The time has flown but yet I seem to have it in a lot in to a short space of time.

Arriving into Dubai this time around was definitely a different feeling. I was excited about my new settled life with a routine and my own apartment but I was also petrified of exactly the same things. I had fallen in love with the travelling lifestyle and wasn’t sure how I was going to take to working and staying still for a long period of time.

Pool on my rooftop! #Dubailife

I arrived to a very friendly welcome from my vice principle and was sorted with a sim card straight away and then transport to my apartment. I was more excited about seeing the apartment than Dubai itself. I have always wanted to live on my own so this was the biggest seller of Dubai for me.

I opened the door to my 14th floor apartment and was instantly delighted. Open plan, marble floors, two big balcony’s and two bathrooms. No oven and the couch is a more of a large chair but other than that I was in love and can’t wait to make it my own.

There was a school lunch for new people to meet each other in Dubai mall so I quickly changed and straight into a taxi.Everyone was very nice and friendly and coming from all different backgrounds. The majority of new people were Irish so we organised to meet for the Kilkenny game in the local Irish bar later that night. Good way to start! People couldn’t believe I was just off a plane and still had energy but after the year I just had, it was a piece of cake! 🙂

The first few weeks were a blur of socialising and induction, trying to digest all the new information and expectations. Nerves definately set in very quickly since I havnt worked in so long! Admin is renowned for being awful here so everything takes so long between organising wifi, bills, bank accounts, visas etc it can take months.

My first impression of exploring Dubai is what I expected. It has plenty of beautiful places to visit, eat, drink, relax, people are very friendly and it has a huge expat community. People work very hard here but play very hard at weekends.

The brunches are amazing though. I now know what all the fuss is about. All you can eat and drink for a fixed price and everyone dressed up ready for a good time. Food is always unreal and the after parties are great craic. Expensive hobby though! As a working abroad experience so far I’m enjoying it but am I in love with Dubai? Not yet. If it wasn’t for the people I’ve met and my apartment I don’t know how I’d feel about it. But as usual I am going to make the most of it, explore it more and see what it has to offer before I make any decisions about what my next step will be. #worldismyoyester